Szechuan/Sichuan Roasted Chicken

I can’t believe it’s only four days before Chinese (Lunar) New Year. I can totally feel the festivities at the Asian stores here, a lot of red decorations. Today, my guest writer is Elaine of Kitchen Experiments, a food blogger and also a proud online entrepreneur at I Heart Vanilla. Elaine is a fellow Malaysian and spent a lot of her childhood days in Penang. Kitchen Experiments started about the same time as Rasa Malaysia. I love her blog, so check it out and please welcome her to Rasa Malaysia.

Thank you for inviting me to guest post on Rasa Malaysia—I’m extremely honored. And for this invitation, I’m going to share a recipe that brings back a lot of childhood memories for me in Penang. Here’s wishing you and your readers a very Happy Chinese New Year!

Every year during Chinese New Year eve, my family would have a feast to celebrate the coming festivities. When I was younger, I remember on the eve of the eve of Chinese New Year is when my late-grandmother is busiest preparing food in her kitchen. It is one of my fondest memory of her and of my childhood because the kitchen was buzzing with relatives coming together to prepare a feast for all our family members…

Chicken is one of those food that is a must during our reunion dinner because it symbolizes prosperity and wholeness. If it was 20 years ago, my grandmother would probably serve the roast chickens whole with its head and feet still intact.

My version of the reunion dinner chicken is supped up with a Szechuan (Sichuan) pepper and vanilla rub. On the side, I created a tangy fennel and apple pickle with cashew nuts. You might hesitate at the vanilla part but bear with me, it does not make the chicken smell or taste like cookies. The vanilla gives this roast chicken a very savory taste and helps meld the flavors together.

Here’s my Szechuan (Sichuan) Roasted Chicken with Fennel and Apple Pickle for you to try on Chinese New Year eve.

That’s a very interesting twist on traditional Chinese roast or poached chicken – I especially like the fennel and apple pickle idea and think it would go beautifully with the chicken. I’m going to try this!

I tried this recipe today but did it slightly different. I broke down a chicken into pieces and marinated those and cooked them in the oven after. I also added 5 red chilles that were ground up into the marinade.

I thought it was a bit too salty but still good. My gf thought there was wayyyy too many szechuan peppercorns.

blanching scallops – if i cannot get fresh ones and use frozen ones do i just blanch them or have to let these be boiled. If so for how long as i understand they will turn hard if boiled for too long. thks

Unfortunately, the rotisserie was not nearly as successful. The much of the rub burned off and lost a significant amount of flavor. I will stick to oven roasting.
The fennel/apple salad was a huge hit! Thanks for this.